Building region derivation from LiDAR data using a reversed iterative mathematic morphological algorithm

A new algorithm, called RIMM (Reversed Iterative Mathematic Morphological) algorithm, is proposed for automatic derivation of building region information from LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) data. The main contribution of the proposed algorithm is to provide a reliable way for building point detection from airborne LiDAR data, in which the reversed iteration makes that the thresholds can be determined in a simple way, thus guaranteeing the applicability of this algorithm for various complicated real situations. An experimental region with 2.8 million LiDAR points, containing many buildings with various roof structures, various sizes, various orientations, and various roof texture conditions, are selected to validate the effect and applicability of this algorithm. The average values of commission and omission error in building information derivation are 5.7% and 8.7%, respectively. The experimental results indicate that this RIMM algorithm is able to derive building region information effectively.